Broadcasting in Norwegian style

By: Mahinda Weerasinghe

Here UD – Norwegian Foreign office. The Norwegian TV commentary has been set in bold script

(March 20, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Norwegian media’s studied silence of the Sri Lankan war on terror was suspended around three months ago. The silence was maintained as a real-politics necessity. Which means; to keep the Norwegian folk, ignorant of what’s happening in the island? Now the issues have overtaken, and a new reality has dawned. The impending annihilation of the LTTE terrorist is keeping the UD nervous. Understandably UD’s terrorist allies need lots of oxygen presently. And the international media is reporting what’s taking place in the island. So the silence has become pointless as the Norwegians get information in other ways and would have wondered why. So the next best thing is to brainwash the Norsk Folk and prepare them for the horrible eventuality. This means if the army happens to capture their terrorist pal Prabhakaran, he is bound to let the cat out of the bag.


So the subtle censorship has been disbanded and news has begun to tickle down the last months and now there is inundation. Indeed if the ‘fat Sun God’ falls into the lap of the capable military commander, Sarth Fonseka it would become a whole new ball game. If that happens then UD’s goose is cooked? So they are rehearsing for the upcoming scenario. In fact I just read that Norway is financing Sri Lanka de-mining activities, these been the mines placed by LTTE and never reported by the Norwegian monitors at the time. This is called running with the hare and hunting with the hound.

To the people who know the game, the reason for this disinformation campaign is clear.

In order to give a taste of it to the reader I will present NRK1’s reporting on the Sri Lankan situation on the 12th of March, and the analysis that followed. I am not presenting the entire material, but the vital parts of how they present information so that their terrorist friends come out looking as pure as the driven snow.

Few words as to how such propaganda ploys are enacted. They roll some news reels from the conflict zone while the program leader gives a running commentary and a standard ‘specialists’ spin doctor is in attendance to give his evaluation. The ‘spin’ doctor in our case happens to be a ‘Professor’ of Geography, a one Kristian Stokke. Naturally, such specialists know more about Sri Lankan affairs than Sarth Fonseka, Gotabaya or the President Rajapakse put together: for he is, all knowing, unbiased and a wise Norwegian professor. Curiously because these peace facilitators did not have any of the mentioned qualities, they were rejected as mediators. But this ‘professor’ has not grasped that fact.

Usually for such propaganda forays, an LTTE representative is used as the ‘spin doctor’ to present the ‘unvarnished truth’. But the Norwegian public is getting weary of such propaganda and has become deaf to it. That’s why they got a Norwegian ‘spin professor’, so the affair will gain a veneer of respectability. What came across was disinformation.

The program leader initiated the program with these demeaning comments, ‘the GoSL has been informing the past several weeks that very soon the Tamil Tigers will be eradicated and the war for the most is ‘a fait accompli’. Yet in reality 10s of thousand are dying each day, caused by the inhuman over kill of the Sri Lankan army, and the war is being dragging on. And the Tamils are informing that they are adamant that even if the war is over, their struggle for independence will continue unabated.

Then the screen fills up with a procession of dancing and a happy Sri Lankan people...

And a bomb blast in the back of the possession of the Muslim festival. And the camera hones in to show the dead people spread around, and the TV commentator informs that the government is saying that the suicide bomber is from the Tamil Tigers; therewith proving the fact that the Tigers have the power and the reach to hit at will and devastatingly in any part of the island.

There was no sympathy for the 15 innocent bystanders who lost their lives or for the injured. No; it was not an act of terror, but a bomb for freedom. What if they were Norwegian bystanders who were massacred in this manner? The commentator was quite clear, that their terrorist friend has stuck a deadly blow at the heart of the nation and was another victory for the freedom fighters.

Commentator goes on to inform: Sinhalese is the official language and Buddhism is the state religion and Sinhalese has the first right for education (which would imply that the Hindu Tamils has lost its language, religion and get no educational rights).

The usual ‘Sinhalese Buddhist chauvinist epithet was suspended this time around, but in a most subtle vain, it gave the message that the Sinhalese Buddhists were war mongering against the poor Hindu Tamils causing them suffering. They never comment about the fact that over 30 % of the Jaffna Tamils being Catholic. Jaffna Catholic Church is in the forefront of this freedom struggle. In other words they would wish to tell without saying that no Catholics were involved at all and this is a Sinhalese Buddhist war against the Hindu Tamils.

Camera moves to the trenches and depicts the Tamil children in trenches in misery and suffering caught in the war situation. (The feeling one gets by watching this is that the misery and suffering was caused entirely by the Sinhalese army)
The program leader comments: using weapons provided by the Pakistan China and Israel GoSL is trying to crush the Tamil Tigers. (At the moment Norwegians has a special antipathy towards Israel and the ones who are giving weapons, but studiously leaves out Russia or India).

The commentator informs:

Partners invited Norway to mediate peace and Norway did its best. (Another blatant lie for the Deputy Foreign Minister of Norway, Vidar Helgesen came to Sri Lanka begging to accept Norway's help to settle the conflict, and reported as such by the 24th January 1998 issue of the Sunday Observer. At that point I responded with the then famous article ‘Are you ready to be taken for another ride?’ in the Island paper. Of course meaning of the article was over Chandrika and her hangers-on. Indeed by this time NORAD was actively in a process of buying up the top Sri Lankan bureaucrats as the NAT reports show).

Then Solheim and Pettersen appear on screen and the program leader comments that Norwegian initiated peace negotiations in 2002 and again 2006. It shows Jan Petersen greeting the LTTE mass murderer in the Vanni. (The information is given in such a way to misdirect the viewers. We know for a fact that the Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen traveled to meet the LTTE murderer V. Prabhakaran to Kilinochi on the 11th September 2004. This was when Ranil was the PM and Chandrika the President. This is not a booboo by the TV researchers, but done with an ulterior motive to implicate MR who was the President by 2006 and ease out Ranil as I will show, why later.)

Now begins the analysis by the so called ‘Professor’ answering the questions.
Question to Stokke: Is it because of the concern for the civilians in the area that the war is prolonging, and if they were not present, had the war ended by now?
Stokke: No it is not. The war is going on because the Tigers are better entrenched and well armed and stronger than the Army anticipated, and that’s the reason for the prolongation of the war.

Q: It is said there are 2 hundred thousand civilians in the area, are they there by their own free will or are they coerced to stay?

S: There is a lot of propaganda by the GoSL, and the truth may be diametrically opposite. Yet it is difficult to know what the real answer is, but it can be both factors. But it should be stated that the civilians are frightened what to expect if they cross over. They don’t know what is to expect, due to detention in the concentration camps and harassment meted out to them by the GoSL
(Blatant Lie)

Q: What is the humanitarian situation?

S: There is a humanitarian crisis as the civilians are caught up in a small area of 35 sq. km area.

Q. Is any diplomacy taking place?

S: Very little. Only Norwegian peace negotiators have contact with the LTTE negotiation partners.

Q: So the Norwegian involvement is important yet, under the circumstances?

S: It is important in that sense Norway is the only international actor which has an open communication channel to the LTTE

Q: How weakened are the Tamil Tigers after this huge onslaught they have experienced?

S: They have been weakened. Most people tend to believe that that the Tamil Tigers will be knocked down or will be knocked down soon. But that was what they said 3 weeks ago. They will be finished in a few days. But they are not finished and they are fighting a powerful enemy with the little resources with their back to the wall. So the LTTE is a protracted resilient fighting force. They have the capability and resources to resist the army yet.

Q: At the end of the war what is the scenario for the LTTE? Will it metamorphose itself to a new phase of warfare?

S: We will see that the LTTE will transform itself into a guerrilla movement and continue the fight in that way (which means back to terrorism and killing of innocent civilians).

Starting with the early 80s the Norwegian media under the bidding of the UD took great efforts to destroy the Sri Lankan people’s good name and especially the Sinhalese Buddhist’s. Why! My guess is the Jaffna Catholic Tamils have brainwashed the UD bureaucrats, and made them feel that without the Norwegian protection the Christian community will be eradicated. So a propaganda war was initiated to brainwash the Norwegian common man. Routinely they gave coverage to the terrorist version and no other version was entertained. Indeed such propaganda was going on even while the peace facilitators were facilitating peace in the island. How best to describe it is as the ‘sound of one hand clapping’. Today Asia is sceptical of any involvement in their affairs by Norway. This is wrong as the Norwegian man on the road is totally oblivious to what’s taking place by this ‘government’ within the government.

In time they have recruited the Quisling Uncle Tom, Ranil to help them in their designs. They have bought other Sri Lankan bureaucrats as well as the Norad list indicate for the yearly payments and was laying the ground work to split Sri Lanka and create an Eelam.

Indeed Kithsiri Athulathmudali writes in Lanakaweb (17-03-09)

Everyone knows what happened when Ranil signed the peace treaty with the Norwegians. Ranil did this in a covert way so that the signed document cannot be found. Norwegians have it and will not show it to anyone for obvious reasons. Ranil’s copy he signed probably is in a bank vault or he destroyed it knowing the consequences, if ever this signed document was found.

No wonder Ranil is hanging on to the opposition leader’s slot. He won’t let go in spite of indignity, humiliation and abuse. His foreign Scandinavian backers would have made it abundantly clear to him to hold on to the position at all cost.

Vacating the UNP leader’s position and the opposition parliamentary leader’s post is as good as putting a noose around his neck at this point of time. If he is kicked out of this post, he will leave Sri Lanka forthwith. People may demand his arrest.

In fact people will demand that he be taken into custody and tried for betraying the country. Indeed Lankans have the right to demand the letter he signed on their behalf, and should go to the Supreme Court to get hold of it.

In that sense Mahinda Rajapakse is also partly to be blamed. For he has placed the other big Quisling’s Bradman Weerakoon’s son as his representative in Norway. Do you think this Ambassador ever protested as to the misinformation given out by the Norwegian media?

“The Sinhalese Buddhist chauvinist” has at last got a good military commander but he can’t do everything by himself. He should start asking questions as to how such questionable Quislings end up in up in such strategically sensitive positions and in such a way to undermine Sri Lanka from within. President Mahinda Rajapakse should stop smiling and act to clear his stable of such Uncle Toms now!

-Sri Lanka Guardian